Former X Factor contestant Kim Marrero wept in the dock as she was cleared of assaulting a gay squatter on Friday.

A jury of four women and eight men acquitted the talent show auditionee of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) and one count of common assault in relation to the attack on Keiran Dulai at his squat in Broad Street on April 24 last year.

Her boyfriend Neil Warner was acquitted of racially aggravated assault occasioning ABH, one count of common assault, one of racially aggravated damage to property and damaging property.

However, Warner of Brunswick Street was convicted of assault occasioning ABH.

During the five-day trial at Reading Crown Court, Mr Dulai claimed he was subjected to an attack where Marrero, Warner and their friend Jonathan Wicks smashed a ceramic vase over his head and whipped him with a curtain rail before flicking blood and detergent over him.